Glade Candle Score

Things have been busy here this week. We had guests over the weekend, a company holiday party to attend, and then a quick trip out of town for a conference my husband had to attend. I did get a couple of good deals at Rite Aid. Wonderful Pistachio's are on sale for 4.88 - 1.00 coupon - 2.00 UPs. $1.88 a bag? I'll take 4, please.

I took the kids to get their pictures with Santa while we were out of town. My county does not have a mall, so we don't have a Santa unless you attend special events. The next county over does have a mall, but the set up for Santa is a little weak. I'll confess, I went along with my husband just to go to the mall! The kids did as well as you could expect 2 year olds to do. While we were in line, my son kept saying: "Santa! Yay!" and my daughter: "Santa! Presents! Baby Dolly!", and they kept staring and pointing at Santa. They were so excited! Until we actually got up to Santa, and then they completely freaked out. It's a cute picture, but they are not happy!

Now for the Glade deal. Target is running a sale on Glade Winter items where they are $2.50 each, and you get a $5.00 gift card when you buy 5. I finally found the elusive tear-pad of coupons for $3.00/3 Glade Winter items. And I still had the $5.00 Target gift card from the Starbucks coffee I bought last week.

This is what I bought for $12.48 + tax:

Transaction 1:

25.00 10 glade items @ 2.50 each

5.98 2 Air Wick candles @ 2.99 each

1.27 1 bottle of Target baby shampoo

- 10.00 Glade coupons (3 x $3.00/3 and 1 x $1.00/1 glade spray)

- 6.00 Air Wick coupons (2 x $3.00/1)

-.05 Store coupon. I'm not sure how this was entered, but I'll take it.

Total: $16.20 - $5.00 gift card = $11.20 + tax. And I received 2 $5.00 gift cards.

Transaction 2:

9.98 2 Hickory Farms turkey summer sausage

3.30 2 Kandoo toddler wipes @ 1.65 each

- 2.00 Kandoo coupons (2 x $1.00/1)

Total: $11.28 - $10.00 gift cards earned above = $1.28 + tax

Rite Aid, Take 3

Ok, so I just took my third trip to Rite Aid this week. When I first saw the flier, I didn't think there was much to get excited about. Um, wrong.

Yesterday I did 1 FSA transaction, and 1 regular one. I have some FSA money to use before the end of the year, and this seems like a smart way to do it. I can stock up on cold meds, get some UPRs back, and qualify for the Gift of Savings, all at the same time.

FSA transaction: 1 Sinex Nyquil, 1 Dayquil, 2 Vicks Baby Vapor Rubs, 1 Puffs Tissue, and 2 large bags of Halls. I used 1 $1.00/2 Halls coupon, 1 $4.00 Sinex Coupon, 1 $1.50 Vicks Coupon, a $1.00 Vicks Coupon, and a Free Puffs with 2 Vicks coupon. My total after coupons was $17.46, and I earned $4.00 UPRs

Non FSA transaction: 2 Bic pencils, 2 Lysol multi purpose sprays (BOGO), 2 Splenda packets with fiber, 2 Dawn dish soaps, 1 Olay body wash, 1 Olay body lotion, and 1 package of snacks for the kids. I used these coupons: 1 x 1.00/2 Lysol sprays, 2 x $2.00 Splenda with Fiber, 1 x $1.00/2 Dawn, 1 x Buy Olay BW, get lotion free. Total after coupons and UPRs was $1.20, and I earned $5.00 UPRs.

So, today. Today is Story Time at one of our Libraries, which is very close to both a CVS and a Rite Aid. As I was going through our local paper (which only comes out on Wednesday and Friday), I found a P&G coupon insert. BONUS! Now I have 2 BOGO Pantene coupons, and 2 Dawn coupons. This changes how I feel about the P&G deal at CVS this week. And since I'm going to CVS, I should hit Rite Aid, too. So I printed 2 BIC coupons for $1.00/2 and a Video Values coupon for $5.00/2 Foamies, which are on sale this week.

FSA transaction: 2 Dayquil, 2 Nyquil, 1 Puffs. Coupons: 2 x $1.50 Dayquil, 2 x $1.50 Nyquil, 1 Free Puffs with 2 Vicks. Total spent: $10.06, with $4.00 UPRs received.

Other transaction: 2 Foamies (BOGO 50%), 2 Crayola crayons (BOGO 50%), 4 packs of BIC pens. Coupons: $5.00/2 Foamies, 2 x $1.00/2 BIC. Total after coupons and UPRs: $2.62, with $6.00 UPRs earned.

And CVS: 4 Dawn dish soap, 2 Pantene shampoo, 2 Pantene conditioner, 1 Duracell AA 10 pack, and a 1/2 gallon of milk because the kids were thirsty and I forgot to pack milk for our trip today. The P&G deal is $5 ECB when you spend $20 on various items including Pantene, Dawn, and Duracell. I used 2 x BOGO Pantene (worth $3.33 each), 1 x 1.50 Duracell, and 2 x 1.00/2 Dawn. My total after coupons and ECBs was $1.66, and I earned $5.00 ECB. The $13.32 in Pantene will go towards the current Olay rebate (spend $50, get $20 cash back). And my husband prefers Pantene, so this will keep him in shampoo for a couple of months.

Thanksgiving Deals

My husband is working today, so we did our Thanksgiving yesterday. Since today is just another day for me and the kids, I decided to hit a couple of deals at Rite Aid, CVS, and Food Lion. I will not venture out tomorrow, because it's just too hard to navigate the stroller around with the crowds. But today was nice, and I got some great deals!

Food Lion:


Total Spent: $7.70
3 bottles of diet tonic water, 1 milk, 2 McCain Simply Potatoes, 4 bags of Steamfresh vegetables, and a bag of marshmallows.

CVS:


Total Spent: 14.12
2 Herbal Essences shampoos, 1 Eucerine lotion, 2 Colgate sensitive toothpastes, 2 Listerine pocket packs, and 5 Reeses cups.
I started without any ECBs, and left with $18.95.

Rite Aid:


Total Spent: $16.78
Oh, Rite Aid, how I do love you...
4 4 packs of Angel Soft TP, 2 Rice Krispies, 2 Cottonelle wipes, 2 Dial hand soap, 5 Planter's nuts, 4 Vaseline Intensive Care lotions, 1 Duracell D battery, 2 Duracell C batteries, 3 Duracell AA batteries, 2 Holiday M&Ms, 10 assorted candy bars, and 5 Carmex lip balms.
I started with $9 in UPRs, and left with $21. I also qualified to receive a $5 SCR (Rite Aid "Single Check Rebate") for the batteries.

It was a great day!

So, what am I going to do with all of this? Well, the tp, wipes, soap, cereal, and batteries are all household necessities. The shampoos, lotions, and most of the candies will make their way into gift baskets and stockings. We'll be doing some entertaining this season, so the nuts and m&ms will be useful then.

Weekend Shopping 11/20 - 11/21

I hit Rite Aid with my Huggies coupons yesterday. Sadly, they were low on stock, so I was only able to do 1 set at store A and 2 at store B. In total, I bought 9 jumbo packs of Huggies.

Regular Price: 11.99 * 9 = $107.91

My total out of pocket cost was $19.72, and that included 2 boxes of Nature Made granola bars. And I now have $9 in UPR from my last transaction ($3 UPR per package of Huggies).

Target has great coupons in their sale flier for this week. I ended up with two sets: one from my local paper on Friday, and one from the Sunday paper. With my 2 coupons for 50% off princess dresses clutched in my hand, I went first thing this morning and bought a yellow Belle dress and a purple Rapunzel dress. I also bought the Fisher Price airport play set that is on sale from 39.99 to 19.99, using a coupon for $5 off any FP toy over $19.99. So $34.98 was my total for the airport and 2 dresses. I am officially cutting myself off from buying any more toys for the twins for Christmas. If I see any more great deals, then those toys will be saved for their birthday in July. But I do need to focus on my husband and the rest of my family now.

I took a quick trip to Giant while I was out today. My total was $34.73 less $17.23 savings, ending with $17.50. That's almost 50% savings! Plus I earned a catalina for $1.00 off my next order for buying 4 pillsbury products.

$17.50 bought me: 1 gallon of milk, 10 Dannon yogurts, 2 Yoplait greek yogurts, 3 Pillsbury grands jr, 1 Pillsbury sweet moments, 2 bottles of Frank's hot sauce, 2 bottles of Tabasco, 1 Lindsey olives, and 1 Hillshire Farms sausage link.

Coupons On Order

I placed some orders for a few (ahem 110) coupons last night. Hello, coupon addiction! Anyway, I got 20 coupons for 2.00/1 Huggies. I received notice that they shipped today, so I should get them before the killer diaper deal at Rite Aid ends on Saturday night.

Rite Aid Huggies Deal: on sale for 8.99, get 3.00 UPR. Factor in the $2.00 coupon and my $5/25 Rite Aid coupons, and you have some really cheap diapers. I don't plan to use all 20 coupons right now, I just had to buy them as a lot. They expire in December, so I'll probably have another chance to use them. I'll roll my UPRs for a second transaction, and then save those UPRs for Black Friday. Can't wait!

Giant 11/16/10

My local Giant Food is running a couple of great deals this week. I ordered some Sara Lee coupons from ebay, and they came in last night. Time for shopping!

Buy 1 Sara Lee pie and 1 Breyer's ice cream, save $3.00 instantly. Limit 1 per transaction.
** Pie: $3.50 Ice Cream: $2.50. $1.50 for both with coupon + deal
Buy 3 items including Sara Lee pie and College Inn broth, get 200 gas points (20 cents per gallon)
** Broth: $2.00 each on sale
Buy 4 items including Breyer's ice cream and Skippy peanut butter, get 100 gas points (10 cents per gallon)
** Skippy: $2.00 each on sale

** Starkist tuna pouch: $1.89 regular price
** Green Mountain K cups: $5.99 on sale

I needed to do 5 transactions to get the pie/ice cream deal. Which is admittedly a little nuts. But I was sure to go when I knew the store would be empty. And heck, I'm going to be hosting 3 different Christmas dinners and 2 Thanksgivings. I need a good pie & ice cream deal.



Total Spent: $28.36
Total Saved: $69.42
Savings: 71%
Bonus Gas Points Earned: 500 = 50 cents per gallon

Coupons used:
5 x .75/1 Sara Lee pie (doubled)
1 x .75/1 College Inn broth (doubled)
1 x 1.00/2 College Inn broth
3 x .50/1 Skippy peanut butter (doubled)
1 x 2.00/2 Green Mountain K-cups
1 x .75/1 Starkist Tuna pouch
1 x 4.50 Any Milk - catalina from a prior purchase of cereals

Ooh - I was just looking over my receipts, and it looks like I earned an extra 100 gas points. I guess the last 4 ice creams qualified for the bonus, even though they were in separate transactions. So, 600 gas points earned!

My 11/14 Shopping Trips

I started clipping coupons in September 2010. Nothing crazy, just a few here and there. Then I realized that you can get a lot of free stuff if you spend a little time planning and organizing your shopping trips around weekly sales. And then I got a binder to hold my coupons, and found ebay and coupon clipping websites. And now I am hooked.

I went to Rite Aid and Target today. I bought some Christmas gifts and some gear for the kids in Target, so I won't go into the details of my entire Target purchase, but here are the highlights:

PAM spray: on sale for $2.00 for original and butter flavored, and $2.28 for olive oil. I found coupon booklets at Food Lion with 1.50 coupons for Pam. Score!

10 x PAM sprays - 10 x 1.50 coupons = 5.87 total

Celestial Seasoning teas are 2.05 each this week, which I paired with $1.00 coupons, ending with $1.05 each.

DelMonte canned vegetables: $.45 each. I bought 10 for 4.50, then used 2 coupons for $1.00/5, for a total of $2.50, or .25 each.

Now for the big savings. I spent $18.22 out of pocket for all of this, after tax.













3 packs of Huggies Jumbo Little Movers
2 Blue Diamond Natural Almonds
2 Blue Diamond Oven Roasted Almonds
1 Herbal Essences Shampoo and 1 Conditioner
1 Olay Body Wash and 1 Lotion
4 Right Guard deodorants
2 Betty Crocker Potatoes
1 Trial Sized Secret Deodorant
1 L'oreal True Match Foundation
2 L'oreal True Match Powders
1 L'oreal True Match Blush
2 Holiday M&Ms
Not Pictured: 2 x 10lb bags of Tidy Cat Litter

Total Retail: $154.48

This took 3 transactions in all. I started with 8 Up Rewards, and left with 4. Not too shabby!

Rite Aid 11/7

Last week was the first time I really scored at Rite Aid. I was so proud of myself that I took a picture.


Ok, 7 of those 8 toothpastes are from Food Lion. They were on sale for $1 each, and I had a bunch of $1 coupons.

The rest was all Rite Aid.
5 Garnier Fructis styling products
5 Garnier Fructis shampoos and conditions
4 Nivia men's body wash
2 Nivia women's body wash
2 boxes of tampons
8 Crest toothpaste (7 from Food Lion, 1 from Rite Aid)

I don't remember the specifics of the retail prices for all of these products, but I spent $7.42 on them before tax.